It wasn’t pretty all the way through, but a shorthanded Long Beach State men’s volleyball team found a way in its night-two matchup against UC San Diego. After battling to a four-set win on the road Friday night, the Beach found the same result at the LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid on Saturday, fighting through two extra-point sets before finishing off the match, 25-22, 25-15, 31-33, 29-27.
“We got home at midnight last night, and you saw our response tonight: a four-set win with a lot of moving pieces,” said LBSU coach Nick MacRae. “Shoutout and credit to San Diego. They got a win in the third and gave us a run for our money in that fourth set, so I was proud that we were able to execute and walk out with a win at this point in the season.”
Both Long Beach State and UC San Diego fought off seven set points apiece between the final two sets, with neither team leading by more than three points in either frame. The Beach fought off five of those set points before dropping the third, then saved UC San Diego’s only set point in the fourth and closed the match on a 4-1 run.
“Honestly, we should’ve been out of there in three,” senior outside hitter Skyler Varga said after the game. “It’s okay that we won in four, and it teaches us that it’s just up to us to put the ball away, put the serve in, and do our job. The biggest takeaway for me is that it’s literally just up to us—no one is stopping us except ourselves.”
After juggling injuries at opposite and middle blocker over the past few months, the Beach were happy to have Daniil Hershtynovich and Ben Braun back in the lineup this weekend. Setter Jake Pazanti and opposite Wojciech Gajek were the two notable players not suited up, but MacRae expects the team to be mostly healthy by next week.
Senior Island Doty has been filling in for Pazanti at setter this weekend and helped lead a fast start for the Beach, aided by an efficient first set from Hershtynovich. The junior opposite was on the receiving end of more than half of Doty’s sets in the opening frame and swung his way to eight kills on .727 hitting in the set.
Doty then orchestrated LBSU’s best hitting set of the night in the second, where the Beach hit .500 with just one error. Sophomore outside Alex Kandev anchored a seven-point service run in the set, including three aces, helping the Beach open its largest lead of the series at 10 points to close out the set.
The Tritons followed that with their best hitting of the night at a .444 clip, led by outside hitter Josh Ewert, who had 11 of his match-high 20 kills in the third set. Fellow outside and LBSU transfer Sebastiano Sani had six of his 19 kills in the set. Wilson alum Leo Pravednikov swung 10 times and had just one kill.
LBSU then trailed for the first half of the fourth set before eventually going on a three-point run to lead the set 16-15. The Beach wouldn’t give up the lead again until it was set point for San Diego at 26-25, before a 4-1 LBSU run including a pair of Triton errors sealed the win to cap off another extra-point set.
“I think it was just about actually wanting to close the match out,” Varga said of the difference between the third and fourth sets. “I don’t know if timid is the right word, but that’s how we felt in that third set. Guys got a little too loose, and we knew they’d push in the fourth. It took a bit to wake up, but you give us one serving run and we’re back in the lead and take advantage. It’s important for us to lean on each other and use that momentum to finish the set.”
Varga finished with a team-high 17 kills on .353 hitting, while Hershtynovich had 12 kills on .333. The Beach were also more productive down the middle and got a big performance from last week’s Big West Freshman of the Week Jackson Cryst, who added seven kills on .455 hitting with four blocks and two aces.
After the game, Cryst talked about his experience through the two-match Big West format with two series left to play before the conference tournament.
“It’s interesting playing back-to-backs. It can be easy to feel good after the first match and try to ride it into the second, but that’s something you can’t do,” he said. “My goal is to just do my job every night no matter what, regardless of the outcome from the night before or even the set before.”
LBSU also celebrated its 1991 NCAA National Championship team on Saturday, marking 35 years since the program’s first title. Members of that team were present and honored on the court between the second and third sets, including AVCA Hall of Famer and former coach Alan Knipe.
The Beach will return to Big West action next weekend with a series against UC Santa Barbara before finishing the regular season against UC Irvine. The Big West Tournament is set for April 23–25 at the Bren Events Center at UC Irvine, and the NCAA Tournament will begin May 7 at Pauley Pavilion at UCLA.